Car-brake



O. SPIESS.

GAR BRAKE.

(No Model.)

N. PUERs mlo-ulho v a har, wahin mn.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR SPIES S, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CAR-BRAKE.

' SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 280,255, dated June 26, 1883.

Application filed April 23,1883. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, OSCAR SPIEss, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Oar-Brakes, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

The object of my invention is to so construct a car-brake that when the brake-shoes are ap plied not only will the wheels be locked, but friction will be exerted on an extended surface of the rails, so that the stoppage of the car can be effected in less time than when the sliding of the wheels onthe rails is the only retarding influence.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1, 2, and 3 are diagrams illustrating the principle on which the invention is based; Fig. 4, a longitudinal section of a truck with the improved brake; Fig. 5, a transverse section of the same, and Fig. 6 a plan view.

A general understanding of the principle of the invention may be had on referenceto Figs. 1, 2, and 3, in which A A represent a pair of car-wheels, and B a brakeshoe located between the wheels, and having opposite segmental faces rt 00 and horizontal lower face, 3 the faces as being of the same curve as the rim or tread of the wheel, and the face ybeing parallel with the tread of the rail D. When the shoe B is elevated, it hangs centrally, and is free from contact with the rim of either wheel, or with the rail, as shown in Fig. 1. When the shoe is dropped onto the rail, however, the rim of one or other of the wheels is brought into contact with one of the faces as of the shoe, depending upon the direction in which the car is running, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The effect of this is to stop the rotation of the wheel, which slides with the shoe upon the rail, the under surface, y, of the shoe presenting a large frictional area, and exercising a powerful retarding effect on the movement of the car. a

The mechanism which I employ for operating the brake-shoes is shown in Figs..4, 5, and

6. The opposite shoes B B are connected by a transverse bar, E, which is suspended by a pair of chains, a a, these chains passing over pulleys b on a transverse bar, d, of the truck, and being connected to a central drum, F, on said bar, so that on turning the drum in one direction the shoes will be elevated, and on turning it in the opposite direction said shoes will be permitted to fall.

On the drum F are radial arms f and g. the

arm f being connected by a chain, h, to the usual braking apparatus of the car, (not shown in the drawings,) and the other arm, being connected to one end of a spiral spring, m, the opposite end of which is connected to a fixed stud on the truck. WVhen there is a draft on the brake-chain, the drum will be turned so as to permit the shoes Bto fall onto the rails but as soon as the draft on the chain ceases the spring mwill restore the drum to its original position and effect the elevation of the brakeshoes.

Instead of using a spring such as shown, a spring coiled around the spindle of the drum and connected at one end to said drum and at the opposite end to the truck may be employed, if desired but a spiral spring connected to an arm on the drum is preferred, as it is more accessible and more easily replaced or repaired in case of injury.

I claim as my invention The combination'of a railroad-car truck and its wheels with a brake-shoe suspended between each pair of wheels, and having opposite segmental faces and horizontal lower face, y, and with mechanism for raising and lowering the shoe, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OSCAR SPIESS.

" Witnesses:- HARRY L. ASHENFELTER,

HARRY SMITH. 

